My uncle has some walking issues and now wears a diaper to help with incontinence just in case, I will take care of him often, bring food, clean up, do stuff around the house, take him places. I really care for him and we don't have any other family nearby that can see him on a regular basis.
The problem is his home smells like urine, not always, it seems to come and go (not sure if humidity, temp and hvac system affect it). His clothes smell like it too.
He told me he had an accident on the couch once, and it had been there for almost a year without proper cleaning. I didn't notice it really coming from the couch, the house just smells like it in general, and his clothes when we go out.
So what we did was get rid of the couch which seemed to help some, minimally.
His clothes washed with vinegar, lysol sanitizer, and regular tide, separate events. He wears fresh clothes when going out.
Although the smell has subsided slightly, if I take him anywhere, he still reeks more noticably when we are out, but it's not incontinence since he doesn't soil his diaper often and is only there just in case.
He actually showers often for his condition as he has convenient walk in tub.
So what can we do to get rid of the smell from the house? All fabric material has essentially been replaced or washed thoroughly in the washer, only wood floors, everything cleaned.
Could it be the urine odor soaked in the walls from the air or something? Or the HVAC system? I did notice some of the duct work was rusty and we had them cleaned, but this seemed to make the problem worse, I'm not sure. There seems to be a burning urine smell when the heating is on as well.
It's driving me crazy trying to figure out where it is "originating" but there seems to not be a localized area I could clean up or replace.
I've tried vinegar bowls on each room as well.
Having a great 'sniffer' I can smell things others can't. My kids used to take matches to different parts of the house, shut the door, strike one and 'bet' on how fast it took for me to say "WHO LIT A MATCH???" They thought it hilarious.
FF a few years and I am dealing with mother's apartment and clothing. The urine smell is SO BAD....a combo of wet depends (she will only let the bathroom trash go out on Sundays) and her recliner which has been absolutely saturated many, many times. So has the carpet in the TV room, where the recliner is. Also, she does shower twice a week, but I am sure she's not getting the full 'undercarriage' wash she needs. She wears a permanent catheter and that means she always has a cath bag on and one hanging up to 'dry', There is always some old brown urine in the bag. She's just not capable of really cleaning it. I'm for buying new ones every month but she won't spend the money.
She also has 2 feral cockatiels, who have not had their cage cleaned for years. Trying to suss out what is the MAIN source of smell, it's just mom. All her clothes smell, she doesn't just dry them, she COOKS them. I think a day in the sun would help the clothing not to smell?
The family also owns 3 dogs and 7(?) cats, so the whole house is pretty redolent. It's clean, but smells bad.
It wouldn't hurt to have the vents cleaned well. Also all tile grout. Carpet can be cleaned but you'll never get a really clean carpet, urine is one of the worst smells to get rid of. I use Rocco & Rixie enzyme cleaner in my home when a granddog has an accident. It works well, but I don't know about cleaning an entire home.
The smell is everywhere--as you say. I have chased this down for ages. We need her to go away for a few days and tear out her carpet, replace her flooring and her mattress and--well, it isn't going to happen.
They do make 'Diaper Genies' for adult diapers and I ran that past YB and he blew a head gasket--said it was humiliating. I said it was helpful if it could cut down on the smell.
If you can get mom to open the windows each day for a half hour, even if it's freezing, that helps. Mother's place is overheated and the windows are basically painted shut.
I wish you luck. This is one thing I will never solve to my satisfaction. At least people are understanding about it.
Ill say the furniture that stays in there, repeatedly gets soaked over and over is probably a big deal. Everytime she sits on it, it likely blows dust out of it that give off the smell too.
This is hard because I think refinishing the whole place might help but you still have the crevices in the HVAC that offgass from particles. Someone suggested an HVAC UV sanitizing system, it degrades microbes and odors that go through the HVAC system, food smells, don't know about urine air attached by dust particles.
Ill let you know if it helps with this though.
Odor Ban. I bought it (still do) at Sam's Club in the gallon size. It is also a sanitizer when mixed properly. It does eliminate odors from urine. It is an enzyme products so it eliminated not covers the urine.
Clorox makes a Urine Remover also works great in the wash. Can use it on floors as well.
The Odor Ban can be put in a spray bottle and used on fabrics like the couch, carpeting and in the wash.
hate to ask but...is there a possibility that your uncle used a heating vent to urinate in? That would explain the odor off and on. Also any potted plants?
I would also do all his clothes, a marathon wash day where all the clothing is done in a product like Odor Ban or Urine Remover. There might be the smallest possibility that he might be hanging up or putting away a soiled article of clothing.
The vent for urination is possible. He had an accident in the bathroom once It got on the tile floor and maybe some went into the vent, I don't think so. I used enzyme cleaner Bac Out on that though.
I have odoban, I don't have the chlorox one.
Are you certain it is urine you are smelling and not something else like mold or mildew? Have you had his furnace maintenance done?
Its not mold for sure, I have inspected well.
Could the dust and urine smell somehow mix together and spread across the house?
The thing is, the couch was pretty bad, he soiled it multiple times a while ago, but it is gone and the smell has stayed (although lesser). The couch only directly smelled if it was humid and someone sat on it. Now that it's gone, it's more of a corn chip/urine smell just in the air.
One thing I didn't see in your post: You mentioned that he is wearing "diapers" for incontinence. Are they disposable? If so, how is he disposing of them? I used to save all of our plastic grocery bags to individually wrap Mom's used Depends, putting them in a closed wastebasket, which I emptied daily. If he's wearing incontinence materials made of cloth, they should be soaked like baby diapers and laundered accordingly.
Good to hear that your uncle is showering often due to the condition. You may want to look into a good perianal cleanser for him to use. I used the Coloplast Bedside Care unscented foam on my mother, and it worked wonders with urine odors on her skin. It's fairly expensive, but it was definitely worth the investment.
I think the perineal cleanser might be good. Maybe the skin is flaking off an becoming dust (therefore getting in the air) with small residue of urine.
If you can pinpoint the areas he urinated, maybe try Natures Miracle used for pet accidents. I tried this when my FIL was having issues and it worked. At one point, I mopped his whole bedroom floor, bathroom and hallway with the stuff. It is strong smelling at first but did the trick for us.
We have wood floors and it really soaks into the crevices in the wood. We laid down cheap vinyl flooring on top of the wood to prevent this and make it easier to mop up too. If he has carpet, he will probably need it professionally cleaned and let them know it is urine because they use special enzymes.
Ill have to try nature's miracle though. It was a different brand I tried.